The Weaponization of the Federal Government

Toonarly
Published on Mar 17, 2024
The Weaponization of the Federal Government, Jordan Peterson and others.

Transcript


18:57
see
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subcommittee will come to order without objection the chair is authorized to declare recesses any time we welcome
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everyone today's hearing on the weaponization of the federal government the chair now recognizes the gentleman
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from Kentucky Mr Mass to lead us all in the Pledge of
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Allegiance Al United States of
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America stands na
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indivisible jice for all appreciate the
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Enthusiast we'll start with opening statements uh then move into our Witness is uh the chair recogniz himself for an
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opening statement big government was colluding with big Tech
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to censor Americans that's the first thing we learned but now it's big government colluding with big Banks and
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big business to spy on everything Americans buy every place they go
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everything they do big government one your financial data because it's full of sensitive information about you our
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investigation started when an FBI whistleblower George Hill came forward and talked to the committee Mr Hill was
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supervisory intelligence Analyst at the FBI up in the Boston field office told
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the committee that the FBI got information from Bank of America specifically it received a list of any
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customer who made purchases in the Washington DC area January 5th through 7th
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2021 The Whistleblower supervisor special agent in charge of the Boston field office Mr bonaval corroborator Mr
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Hills testimon when he spoke to the committee and so did Steve Jensen the
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FBI's domestic terrorism operation section chief but it wasn't just purchase data
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around a specific date that the FBI got from Bank of America that was actually
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also overlaid with any firearm purchase at any time and how did the FBI get this
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information they asked for it in fact you can see on the on the uh display on
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the screen here the email that was sent the FBI told Bank of America to recap our morning call we are prepared to
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action immediately the following threshold customers confirmed as transacting business in Washington DC
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between these specific dates so if you're in Washington DC visiting your kids maybe visiting your
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aunt or maybe just a friend the FBI wanted to know about every single purchase you made
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and and if you're a gun owner look out you're going to the top of the list for
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simply exercising your Second Amendment right you're on the FBI's Target list
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never forget the federal government got this information without any process no
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warrant and frankly no notification the bank didn't tell the customer that we're hey we're handing this information over
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to the FBI the most powerful law enforcement agency in the world now
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these FBI agents Mr Hill Mr bonot Mr Jensen they all said this was wrong and in fact sent the information back to FBI
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headquarters in DC so that's how our investigation began but since then and
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we continue to investigate but since then we've learned that the financial surveillance was broader and there was
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actually a specific objective federal government is building profiles on the American people and the profile isn't
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based on criminal conduct it's based on political beliefs and if you got the wrong political beliefs well you're
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potentially a domestic violent extremist now how are they actually doing this what are the mechanics of
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this there's this entity we've discovered called the domestic security Alliance Council kind of overwheling in
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in sound and title the daac and this is an entity where the FBI the Department
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of Homeland Security works with 650 of the largest companies in the world these companies have to do over a billion
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dollars in Revenue a year they represent 2third of the gross domestic product of the United States economy and they work
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through this controlled access portal we'll put that on the screen scre here what are they sharing in this secret
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portal well we're not exactly sure because it's secret but we do know that
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they share some information share reports and one of the reports we got called a Leo liaison information report
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said this any American who POS opposes any American who opposes firearm
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legislation the easing of immigration restrictions and Co mandates is someone
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Bank should be watching because again they might be an extremist now stop and think about that for a second I mean
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just in other words if if you're against gun registration you're for a secured border you oppose lockdowns and vaccine
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mandates you're a domestic violent extremist according to the FBI and the
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government should get your data should get your financial data it actually gets worse the federal government and Banks
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also use what they call Merchant category codes to flag Americans that shop at places like Bass Pro Shop and
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Cabellas they flagged Americans who bought religious text we can show you that one
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too because everybody knows if you want a secure border and you oppose Co lockdowns then you probably shop at Bass
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Pro Shops and you read your Bible and of course all that makes you an extremist literally that is the logic that you you
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see displayed from the information we've been able to gather thus far in our investigation now remember these are
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also the same folks who just a couple years ago told us if you're a parent showing up at a Schoolboard meaning you're a terrorist if you're a pro-life
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Catholic you're an extremist now of course if you oppose lockdowns vaccine mandates want a secure border don't want
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gun registration you're in that category as well this is scary where things are
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headed we've seen the censorship now we see what's happening with big Banks and and big government relative to your
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financial data again all this being done with no process no warrant no
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notification to the customer that the banks are actually supposed to serve big government's not supposed to
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use big Tech to censor Americans and big government shouldn't be working with big Banks to Target Americans for behavior
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that is legal and constitutional and that's the concern that's why we're having this here and we we'll get to our
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guest here in a second but with that I would yield to the ranking member for an opening statement before we get to our
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Witnesses thank you Mr chairman and good morning to everyone that's here uh at this
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hearing I'm glad that the chairman opened with who instigated this
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hearing which is George Hill and what the purpose of this
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hearing is at the end of the day the purpose of this hearing is to
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minimize what happened on January 6th and the lawful
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prosecution of individuals who were engaged in that
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practice the chairman wants us to believe that people are being persecuted for their political
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conduct rather than their criminal Behavior so basically he's trying to
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tell us that everyone who's been indicted prosecuted for January 6 did
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not engage in criminal conduct that's the logic of what he's saying and
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it's we're we've just come so low in this part in this house it's just frightening to me what
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people will do to try and minimize the work of those individuals
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who came to this capital on January 6 this entire Republican conspiracy
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theory was launched based on the testimony of a so-called
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whistleblower George Hill he appeared for a transcribed interview last year Mr
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Hill claimed that the FBI was using the Bank of America to survey
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Americans all Americans not all Americans everyone who
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owns a firearm as the chairman said not everyone who owns a firearm the picking
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and choosing of language within an entire rep report is just
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inappropriate information given to the American people give them all of it so
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that they can see the true picture tell half a story you're not
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telling the truth the FBI ask the Bank of America for information on
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individuals who fit three categories people who came that there is
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evidence that they were here on January 6 that they purchased a firearm in the
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last 6 months and that's key and not or
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and they plan to come back for the inauguration and they know that they
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were coming back for the inauguration based on Airbnb purchases Hotel
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RSVPs in the DMV area and they were individuals who had come on January AR 6
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and know that through those purchases as well and these were not all of the people that they were looking at but
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what was the purchase purpose of this it was to make sure that a January 6th
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event didn't happen on Inauguration because people were talking
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about it they talk you know you had up there DMVs do we know what DMVs are
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doesn't want to tell you that it's domestic terrorists individual ual engaged in
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domestic violence that happens when it's people who fit your
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political agenda they're not criminals anymore they're Patriots they're uh
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victims they're not they're criminals and a jury of their peers found that when so many of them have
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been prosecuted in our court of law not by brown
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shirts not by Nancy Pelos not by Biden's justice department by a
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jury of their peers and it's surprising that we don't have George Hill here today because in
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the same way that their star witness on their impeachment Alexander smaroff
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remember him who was their key key witness in the hunter Biden impeachment probe until we found out that everything
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he said was made up and he actually got his information from Russia
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we don't know what's going to happen with George Hill but we can pretty well guess based
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on the track record I want to thank our Witnesses for being here we don't always agree on
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things that Witnesses say but we thank them for their willingness to come and give their thoughts and be questioned by
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members of Congress here and of this hearing I particularly want to thank Mr
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fenon for being here with us today want to thank him publicly for his bravery
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and his willingness in sharing his traumatic harrowing experience so publicly so that we can understand and
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so that there can be truth ju oppose to
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falsehoods I'm sorry for you and all the men and women who fought on the front
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lines just steps away from this room that we're in today to protect all of us
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in this building from staff from The Architects uh of the capital to members
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of Congress to the young people who were
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here my experience here today is nothing compared to what those officers went
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went through and Mr fenon while those of us
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on the dis were being protected in insecure locations some of us fearing for our
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lives many of us on both sides of the aisle fearing for their life on that day
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that they've quickly forgotten about after visits to maral Lago I want to thank you cuz you saw it
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all cuz you were out there you didn't hide you ran towards danger you went out
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to meet the mob you and your brothers and sisters in blue went out and did that
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and I wanted to share just a reminder of what really occurred on that
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day I got you Mike that's my hand on
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you push him
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back
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[Music] we needt now Mike stay in there buddy
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Mike it's Jimmy I'm
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here that's a battle scene that's what that is that's a battle
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scene that is not political Discord that's criminal
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Behavior that's what that is and while police Capital police
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officers were slipping in Blood on the ground as they fought their fellow
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officers fight in that Insurrection those of us who were in the
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capital those members of Congress and staff were seeking
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shelter and unfortunately Mr fan you have met the
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times that we are in you have given up your safety to secure
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truth unfortunately many of my colleagues on the other side know the truth but they're still seeking shelter
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from Donald Trump's hordes they're still seeking shelter from the truth
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they want to protect not them just themselves but their political
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careers their jobs they're hiding behind lies for that
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we know what happened not just by those videos and footage but the nearly thousand convictions obtained against
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those riers across an array of jurisdictions conviction from career
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prosecutors not political hacks with juries of the defendants peers everyday
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Americans who saw the evidence evidence that has been obtained by prosecutors and investigators have
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worked to hold these violent individuals accountable for their horrendous
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Deeds so I got a lot of else that I could have talked
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about but I guess we'll get to
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it g lady yields back without objection all the opening statements will be included in the record we now introduce today's Witnesses Dr Jordan Peterson is
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a psychologist author and professor ameritus at the University of Toronto he previously taught at Harvard University
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and McGill University he has published more than a 100 scientific papers hosts a popular podcast hosts public lectures
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across the United States Canada Australia and Europe and offers online programs to help consumers better
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understand their personalities than themselves Dr Peterson has been targeted for his views on the importance of free speech and Traditional Values and is
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warned of the dangers of debank political opponent on as he is seen in Canada Mr Brian Knight is director of
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innovation and governance at the senior re and the senior research fellow at the Marcas Center he has research published
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widely on financial regulation including the creation of pro-innovation regulatory environments the role of regulation for credit markets and
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consumer protection and the sharing of data between financial institutions their regulators and other Federal
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entities Mr Jeremy tadesco serves a senior council at this and the senior vice president of corporate engagement
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at the alliance defending free freom in these roles he works to advance Free Speech religious freedom and human
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dignity and companies he also works to prevent political and religious debank at Major financial institutions I
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actually believe the alliance for defending freedom is one of the one of the entities targeted by the government when in some of this correspondence so
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we appreciate you being here as well Mr Norbert Michael is Vice President director of the center for monetary and
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financial Alternatives at the KO Institute he has researched and published on issues pertaining to financial markets and monetary policy
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including the bank secrecy Act important important piece of legislation that needs change in particular he is
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advocated for reforms that Advance individuals rights against government overreach and protecting personal financial privacy Mr Michael fenon is a
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law enforcement analyst security consultant and Firearms instructor he previously served for 20 years as a
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police officer with the DC metropolitan police department we welcome our Witnesses and thank them for appearing
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uh today we'll Begin by swearing you in would you please rise and raise your right
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hand do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about
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to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief so help you God let the records show
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that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative thank you you may be seated please know that your written testimony
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will be entered into the record in its entirety accordingly we ask that you summarize your testimony in 5 minutes
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we'll be a little lenient on the time so if you go a little over that's fine you go too far over we may have to just move
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on to the next but uh many of you have done this before so um you know how this works there's a microphone we'd ask that
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you turn that on when you're when you're testifying uh and we will start with Dr Peterson Mr Peterson you're recognized
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for uh five minutes and thank you again for being here as well I would like to
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start by expressing my uh appreciation for the privilege awarded to me to testify here today it it really is an
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honor to be asked to do so I'm not here to talk about January 6th or about any
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particular threat Insurrection or protest political or
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ideological real or imaginary I'm here to talk about the already extand and
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expanding collusion of government and Corporation in restricting the individual freedom and autonomy upon
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which the productive generous and stable psych psyche economy and state are
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themselves necessarily founded I'll begin my comments therefore in the most general terms to shed light on the
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mounting problem there are now 700 million cctvs in China under the rule of
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the Communist Party the system to which those electronic eyes are attached is
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the most complete State apparatus of surve surveillance yet imagined with the ability not only to recognize faces at a
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distance but gate itself when facial features are hidden or obscured such
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capability can and will soon be augmented to the point where the movement of eyes themselves monitored by
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high resolution and intelligent cameras will soon be sufficient to identify any
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aware and active party the demented naive and prideful Engineers who so
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enthusiastically helped build this system call it
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Skynet after the Rogue and allseeing technology that took such a dreadfully wrong term turn in the famous science
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fiction movie Terminator series featuring artificially intelligent robot intelligences hellbent on protecting
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themselves by destroying Humanity the name also references a well-known Chinese phrase describing the reach of
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the Divine itself the net of Heaven is vast yet it misses
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nothing which aptly describes the capabilities of the new state apparatus the system is integrated with the
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so-called Chinese social credit system which Awards its involuntary participants with a score indicating
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their compliance with the dictates of the Chinese Communist Party allowing for full full control over access to
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everything they possess electronically most ominously their savings and their
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access to travel certainly all modern means of travel but increasingly as the
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electronic Gates come up even by walking if you're a Chinese or a visitor your
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access to the world can be reduced to zero if your social credit score Falls
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Beyond an arit arbitrary minimum this allows you purposefully to be shut out
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of all activities that can be virtualized and in a rapidly virtualizing world this increasingly
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means all activities driving shopping working eating finding
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shelter even fr izing with friends and family as merely being in the presence
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of someone with a low social credit score means that your own score can be
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lowered this has also opened up the opportunity for the government to extract slavik labor from its citizens
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so burdened as the donation of free work to the state still constitute one means
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by which airing Chinese men and women can increase their score and remain part
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of human society this is precisely the payment system most desired by the most
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tyrannical not the work for me and benefit thereby that constitutes the
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contractual Arrangement undertaken by free and Sovereign citizens but the work
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for me and I will lift the deprivation I imposed that has always been the late
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motif of the slaver why is any of this relevant to people in the west well because the technology that
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the Chinese Communist party employs is an extension of Western and Technology
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because we already fell prey to the terrible temptation of lockdown employed by that state in the face of
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hypothetical crisis once and in the very recent past because we're walking step
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by step in the same direction partly because of the hypothetical convenience of universal and automatic recognition
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of identity and partly because any problem whatsoever that now confronts us can easily be used to justify the
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increasing reach of the security in Nanny state it is said that stone AG people first
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confronted with cameras and their resultant photographs by modern anthropologists objected to having their
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images captured as they feared the Captivity of their souls it turns out
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that such fear was preent the images that we leave behind while navigating virtual space are such close duplicates
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of our actual selves that the capture of our Essence is at this point all but
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guaranteed we all now have our doppelgangers we all live so much in the virtual world in consequence of our
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purchasing habits and modes of electronically mediated communication that our very selves have become
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reducible to a frightening degree to data the modern equivalent of our
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footprint with the same data making up an image of our identity an identity
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which can be and is increasingly bought and sold by the invisible corporate Brokers that still mostly use it to sell
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us what we so desperately and carelessly and conveniently want but can also be used to track Monitor and punish
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everything we do and say behavioral scientists facilitate this process with
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their reprehensible nudging the practice of pushing people in a given ideologically determined Direction by
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manipulating invisible incentives behind the scene corporations track purchasing
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decisions developing algorithms that with increasing accuracy track our patterns of attention and action
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allowing for the prediction of what might next be most enticing doing so not only to offer us what we want but to
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determine and shape what we need governments can and are colluding with these corporate agents to develop a
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picture not only of our actions but of our thoughts and words so that deviation from the desired end can be mapped
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rewarded and punished the development of a digital identity and currency is nothing more than the likely end
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consequence of such inclinations and the combination of both can and will facil facilitate the development of a
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surveillance State the scope of which optimistic pessimists of totalitarianism
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such as George Orwell could scarcely imagine the new AI systems which are so rapidly emerging do nothing but increase
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this danger providing for the possibility of a super surveillance whose scope exceeds anything that mere
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un augmented humans could imagine while also making it certain that even the perceptions that in the real world shape
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our attitudes conduct and personality can man can be manipulated to the degree
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that we will not even be able to see a reality outside which that has been constructed by the superstate the
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ultimate fascist collusion between gigantic self-interested corporations and paranoid security obsessed
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anti-human governments we're already selling our souls to the superstate for
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the purposes of immediate gratification while being enticed to do so by Mr chairman could the witness be asked to
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summarize please and D do I have my five minutes or do I
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know you've gone over five oh I'm sorry I can I can certainly I can just could summarize we're always a little lean
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with the time if you can sum I'll take 10 more seconds sure with increasing ability to monitor not only the actual
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attention patterns and behaviors of its citizens but to predict those that are most likely the persecution of even
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potential crime becomes ever more likely if you have nothing to hide you will have nothing to fear will be the slow
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commandeered by those most likely to turn to surveillance to protect and control what was the famous Soviet
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totalitarian joke attributed to laventi Baria head of the secret police show me
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the man and I'll show you the crime those words were true enough in the time of Stalin's KGB and the police were
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secret enough then as well but that's nothing compared to what we can and likely will produce now a police so
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secret that we will not even be able to detect their comprehensive and subtle activity monitoring crime so pervasive
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that everyone under the dictates of the system will have something to hide order Mr chairman y uh the gentleman's uh time is
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expired we now go to Mr Knight for your uh your statement chairman Jordan ranking member
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plaset and members of the subcommittee it's an honor to be asked to testify my name is Brian Knight and I'm a senior
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research fellow at the mercada center George Mason University where my research focuses on financial regulation
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including its use as a tool of broader policy Americans write the story of their lives in their bank accounts to
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function in a modern economy Americans must create a trail of records that can reveal their movements their religious
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and political beliefs their sexual preferences health conditions whether they are likely to own a gun or have had
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an abortion the government can access these records without meaningful due process or the person ever knowing it
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happened it's perhaps unsurprising then that efforts to expand the use of financial surveillance are increasing
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while potentially well meaning these efforts present a pressing threat to Americans privacy and a glaring weakness
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in our constitutional order that should be addressed recent example of this is federal law enforcement and financial
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institutions collaborating to share financial records of an unknown number of Americans after January 6 while
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publicly available information is limited it appears this was add done to identify suspects based on their
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movement political and religious beliefs and whether they owned a firearm these searches use broad categories many of
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which relate to lawful sensitive and constitutionally protected activ this was apparently done under the bank
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secrecy act which allowed the information to be provided without a warrant or any outside check and
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prevented the targets of the search from being told it happened we only know it
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occurred because of the testimony of whistleblowers and the work of the subcommittee we do not know how often similar techniques were used in the past
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and if their use is currently ongoing to add insult to injury it's unclear that the data was even useful and was removed
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by the FBI though only after it had been shared with at least two field offices now it isn't surprising that after a
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serious crime and fearing more violence that law enforcement would use every tool available however the way this
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appears to have happened is emblematic of the serious defects in our protection of Americans privacy enabled by
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Financial surveillance sadly this isn't the only recent example of the expansion
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expansive use of financial surveillance their currently efforts to distort the financial system to turn it into a tool
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to track constitutionally protected Behavior including Firearms purchases ADV of this approach argu will help
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prevent violence especially mass shootings to be sure this is a noble aspiration however it is unlikely the
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effort will accomplish its goal while imposing significant costs to privacy trust and the ability of our anti- money
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laundering system to fulfill its legitimate ends as well as encouraging a broader escalation of
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surveillance as discussed in more detail in my written testimony our problem is that our financial system provides a
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convenient almost One-Stop shop where without the Constitutional protections that apply to similar
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information elsewhere it's too easy for the government to obtain a comprehensive and retrospective though not perfect
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picture of a person's life without due process a further problem is that the bank secrecy Act is opaque by Design
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banks are prohibited from alerting the target of a report this prevents most citizens whose information is shared
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from challenging the law in court removing one of the core means we use to check government excesses Congress has
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also kept been kept in the dark about the effectiveness of the BSA despite requiring reports revealing the system's
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Effectiveness be provided by law in fact a bank apparently even refused to share information with the subcommittee based
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on the bank secrecy act's confidentiality requirements it even appears that the agencies that administer the BSA and use
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the BSA lack a full or even partial picture of how the information is used
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how useful it is and how long it takes for government to act on it we have these problems due to a
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combination of Technology bad law law and bad Supreme Court precedent the latter of which thankfully may be
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finally coming under question but we cannot and should not rely on the court as discussed further in my written
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testimony Congress should reform our financial surveillance system especially the bank secrecy act to restore proper
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protection for Americans privacy importantly and I want to emphasize this this does not mean that law enforcement
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could not access the information rather it means that the access would be done pursuant to due process to be clear I'm
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not here to impune anyone's motives but good intentions can pave the road to hell and our history is unfortunately
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replete with times when motivated by real threats we have violated the rights of Americans often for without benefit
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and to our later regret we should learn from those mistakes and get off the path I fear we're currently taking which will
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provide us with neither Liberty nor security thank you thank you Mr Knight Mr Tesco you recognized for your opening
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statement chairman Jordan ranking member plaset and distinguished members of the select subcommittee good morning it's
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it's an honor to be here my name is Jeremy Tesco and I serve as senior Council and Senior vice president of corporate engagement for Alliance
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defending Freedom yesterday the subcommittee released documents that showed that the US Treasury Department's
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Financial crimes enforcement netwk Network colluded with big Banks to monitor their customers to identify
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domestic threats and shared a list of so-called hate groups published by the hyperarid for strategic dialogue to help
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them do so echoing the discredited and morally bankrupt Southern Poverty Law Center the ISD list includes ADF where I
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work as well as other mainstream religious and conservative organizations like family research Council Liberty
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Council Pacific Justice Institute and Ruth Institute simply put the federal
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government appears to have swept up Christian and conservative organization organizations in its domestic terrorist
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drag net the orwellian surveillance of American citizens has no place in a free Society neither does the federal
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government's weaponization of the financial industry against Peaceable religious and conservative groups
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our story is just one of many demonstrating The increased rise and threat of viewpoint based debank in 2023
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Bank of America closed the long-standing bank account of indigenous Advanced Ministries a Christian nonprofit that
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helps impoverished widows and children in Uganda the bank also closed the account of a local Tennessee church that
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donates to that Ministry the bank claimed it no longer wanted to serve their business type and that indigenous
53:22
Advance exceeded the bank's risk tolerance the banks abrupt decision created a logistical nightmare for
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indigenous advance and inflicted real harm on the populations they serve the list goes on JP Morgan Chase debanked
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the Arkansas family Council for being highrisk and never provided a credible reason for canceling the account of
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former US senator Samuel brownback's organization the National Committee for Religious Freedom and Wells Fargo denied
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Payment Processing to the pro-life group The Ruth Institute because it was a hate group these debank stories and many more
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highlight the systemic risk risk of political and religious bias that pervades the financial industry
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particularly at the largest banks and payment processors these institutions maintain reputational risk policies that
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allow them unfettered discretion to punish customers who have in their view problematic political or religious
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views many also have prohibitions on hate speech and intolerance that require the institution to make subjective and
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value-based judgments on a customer's Viewpoint both types of policies are vague and ambiguous sweet in Broad
54:25
swaths of content chill constitutionally protected speech and erode economic freedom worse government Regulators can
54:32
all too easily Shield their outsized power I'm sorry wield their outsized power over financial institutions to
54:39
pressure them to leverage reputational risk policies hate speech policies and similarly vague language against
54:45
disfavored views all with virtually no public accountability financial institutions in turn can hide behind
54:52
that same Shield to discriminate without ever explaining it to to the customer regardless of whether the action was
54:57
prompted by government pressure there is ample evidence of the two collaborate collaborating to sensor views they don't
55:04
like whether it was the doj and FDIC in operation choke point the state of New
55:09
York and NRA versus vulo case currently pending pending before The Supreme Court
55:14
or the FBI and Treasury and recent Revelations from this subcommittee each of these incidents
55:20
show that the government can and will weaponize the financial Marketplace against Americans for political benefit
55:27
several factors exacerbate this risk banking Regulators have expansive authority over Banks day-to-day
55:32
operations and decisions both the government and banks have shown an unsettling willingness to increase data
55:38
collection practices around customers speech and religious exercise and most banking supervision is shrouded in
55:45
secrecy the government props up many of these institutions with bailouts subsidies and an anti-competitive
55:51
chartering system doe in part to these benefits the top five Banks control 50
55:56
over 50% of the market for deposit accounts this only elevates the need to ensure Viewpoint neutrality and the
56:03
provision of financial services Congress should take action this is an issue that we should all agree on and deserves our
56:09
utmost attention we cannot continue to let law enforcement regulators and banks that are too big to fail run roughshod
56:16
over our first amendment freedoms I welcome your questions thank you Mr Tedesco Mr Michelle you're recognized
56:22
for five minutes good morning chairman George ranking member plat members of the committee thank you for the
56:28
opportunity to testify today's hearing I'm Norbert Michelle vice president director for K's mon Center for monetary
56:36
and financial Alternatives and the views that I express today in this testimony are mine they should not be construed as
56:42
representing any official position of the KO Institute in my testimony I argue
56:47
that it is long pass the time for Congress to reaffirm Americans constitutional rights that guarantee an
56:54
expectation of financial privacy particularly those secured by the Fourth Amendment excuse me the bank secrecy Act
57:02
and the any- money laundering framework that the government has developed around it are unnecessary wasteful and harmful
57:10
the typical American is not a terrorist a criminal or a tax cheat and does not want to live among such individuals the
57:17
typical American does however recognize that the constitution protects all Americans from unreasonable persecution
57:24
and Limitless invasions of privacy and I'd like to make three main points in support of my position first Congress
57:32
should not have passed the bank secrecy Act of 1970 it was a much broader Bill than the legislation that its original
57:38
sponsor promised to deliver and its relationship to the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution was controversial
57:44
enough to Spur several legal challenges two of which ended in Split decisions at the US Supreme Court during the
57:50
1970s further the bill was so controversial that it spurred Congress Congress to pass pass multiple bills
57:57
including the right to financial Privacy Act just eight years after passing the bank secrecy act it did so with the
58:04
explicit intent of countering the very Financial surveillance that the bank secrecy act itself created unfortunately
58:12
the 1978 bill was so watered down with 20 different exceptions that it failed
58:17
to live up to its name as a result financial institutions remain responsible for both recordkeeping and
58:24
Reporting requirements and law enforcement has the authority to obtain Americans Financial records without
58:30
first obtaining a valid search warrant the so-called third party Doctrine borne
58:35
largely out of those Supreme Court decisions in the 1970s excuses This legal status by effectively claiming
58:42
that bank customers have no expectation of privacy from the government once they give their information to the bank much
58:49
like the dissenting justices of those cases I believe this logic defies all reason reasoning there is simply no
58:56
sphere of Our Lives that would remain free of government involvement surveillance and control if it were
59:01
taken seriously second the agencies themselves have failed to demonstrate how the bank
59:07
secrecy act regime provides a net benefit and it is merely created an information overload for federal
59:13
agencies through excessive reporting in 2022 for instance financial institutions
59:18
were required to file over 26 million reports with the federal government on
59:23
customer activities and even though it's been decades since the first suspicious activity report was
59:29
filed the financial crimes enforcement network still cannot provide data that
59:34
explains how law enforcement even uses those reports these two points are just the tip of the
59:40
iceberg difficult as it may be to believe there are virtually no convictions to show for all this
59:46
regulating and Reporting depending on the federal crime data that we use the per conviction cost ranges anywhere from
59:53
$7 million to $178 million and those figures do not include any implicit cost
1:00:00
of violating citizens right to financial privacy Banks decisions to terminate or limit customers accounts or Banks
1:00:08
refusal to provide Financial Services to certain customers finally personal and financial
1:00:15
privacy are pillars of life in a free Society the American system of government was designed with good reason
1:00:22
to ensure that individuals do enjoy a private sphere free of government involvement surveillance and
1:00:29
control unless there is a reasonable suspicion that someone has committed a crime or conspired to commit a crime
1:00:36
people should generally be free to live their lives unmolested and UNS surveil by the government that is literally why
1:00:43
the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures and Americans
1:00:49
Financial records should not be an exception to that rule it is of course
1:00:55
healthy to debate what private companies should be allowed to do with the data they collect from customers but no
1:01:01
American should confuse that debate with why we have the Fourth Amendment the
1:01:07
fourth amendment protects us from unwarranted government persecution and that is why Congress should amend the
1:01:13
bank secrecy act and restore Americans Fourth Amendment rights thank you and
1:01:18
welcome any questions thank you Mr Michelle uh we now go to Mr fenom for five minutes
1:01:29
Mr chairman and members of the committee thank you for inviting me here today to answer questions regarding the events
1:01:35
that occurred the United States capital on January 6 2021 I would like to tell
1:01:42
you that I've forgotten some of the events of that day or that my recollection is not as clear as it once
1:01:48
was but that would not be the truth the events of January 6th are as Vivid to me
1:01:54
now as when they occurred over 3 years ago while the physical scars of that day
1:01:59
have healed the emotional scars remain we are a government of laws not
1:02:05
of men I spent nearly two decades as a law enforcement officer trying to
1:02:10
enforce the law my career began in the United States capital as a capital police officer and ended when called
1:02:17
upon as a metropolitan police officer to protect the capital against a mob of
1:02:23
people while much of my career involved dangerous encounters with violent criminals that experience was unlike
1:02:31
anything I had experienced I'm here to tell you what
1:02:37
happened to me on that day and what I saw and heard happening to fellow officers as for me I was violently
1:02:46
grabbed restrained beaten tased all while being called a traitor to my
1:02:51
country I was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm as I
1:02:56
heard chants of kill him with his own gun my body camera video captured the
1:03:02
violence of the crowd directed towards me during those very brutal moments the
1:03:08
portions of the video I have seen remain extremely painful for me to watch but
1:03:13
doing so is crucial to fully understand what really happened that day and the extent of the violence during those
1:03:20
moments I remember thinking that there was a good chance that I could be killed and my thoughts were of my children who
1:03:26
may lose their father while I'm here to share my experience I know that hundreds of other
1:03:32
law enforcement officers responded that day they were outnumbered and acted with tremendous
1:03:38
bravery to protect the capital and all those present inside who serve our country those officers have sustained
1:03:45
injuries both physical and emotional they too have been scarred some visible
1:03:51
and some that cannot be seen I think of them them often like my partner Jimmy
1:03:56
Albright who dragged me to safety while I was unconscious and who drove me to the emergency room though injured
1:04:04
himself I think then about Commander Ry Cy who like so many of us to self-
1:04:10
deployed to the capital who organized the defense of the lower West Terrace tunnel his rally cry do not give up the
1:04:19
door Echoes through my thoughts I think of all the brave men and women newly Meed officers and those
1:04:27
nearly retired who responded to the call of service that day in defense of our nation those who are still on the front
1:04:34
lines each and every day to make our city safe and protect our institutions of government I appear today not to give
1:04:42
my opinion or analysis or advocate for some action but simply to Bear witness I
1:04:48
leave whatever actions to be taken to your wisdom and where we go as a as a nation
1:04:55
to the American people I have no agenda or affiliation I do not come with malice
1:05:01
in my heart but only a deep love of this country which I know is shared by so many others both young and old both
1:05:08
Republican and Democrat and in the process of speaking more importantly
1:05:14
listening to each other hopefully we can come together as one nation with shared
1:05:19
values of wanting to tomorrow to be better than today with the hope and confidence
1:05:25
that we do each and every day excuse me is for the singular purpose of trying to
1:05:31
provide a better life for our children and our children's children in generations to come I thank you for your
1:05:38
invitation to be here today in the opportunity to speak with
1:05:43
you uh thank you Mr fenon we now proceed under the five minute rule with questions the chair recognizes the
1:05:48
gentleman from California for five minutes thank you Mr chairman
1:05:54
Fone I I want to express my heartfelt thank you for being here today those of
1:06:00
us who were here on January 6 uh in no small part owe you and others a debt of
1:06:07
of gratitude for the work you did uh ushering people into uh members of
1:06:13
Congress and others into safety uh and I I truly appreciate that and thank you
1:06:19
thank you sir if this were only about January 6 that would have been my last comment and
1:06:26
we'd be done I'm going to ask a series of questions that I think beg the question of of something Beyond January
1:06:34
6 for all of you if you'd raise your hand are there any of you who think that
1:06:42
it would be better if we had the same rules of discovery that
1:06:48
China Cuba Russia Iran have from a
1:06:53
standpoint of looking for criminals Among Us is there anyone here that would raise their
1:06:58
hand I thought not for all of you let's ask some questions and I'll use Mr Tesco as uh as
1:07:07
my strawman for a moment with the way the bank secrecy act
1:07:13
has been used is there anything that stops an Administration from choosing to
1:07:19
look at and gather strip away and get from the major Banks or all the banks
1:07:25
all the data of all the citizens and participants in our society in other
1:07:31
words simply haul it all in so they have a database for whatever they need to do
1:07:36
whether it's January 6th or uh you know somebody driving in town uh and and not
1:07:44
paying a parking ticket sure I don't know the bank secrecy act particularly well I know the First Amendment
1:07:50
implications of the way in which I'm Lally looking at the Fourth Amendment for a moment sure uh you know again for
1:07:57
the others uh Mr Knight I think you answered on this really there's nothing that would stop an Administration in
1:08:04
secret from taking vast amounts potentially all of it uh under current
1:08:10
law the only qu question you'd really ask is can you later go to court and say
1:08:15
it was excessive and would the court side with you but from a functional standpoint what they ask for at the FBI
1:08:21
they get is that correct I believe that's correct representative in fact I I think it's even worse than that in the
1:08:26
sense that it doesn't necessarily need to be evidence of a crime it could be evidence of some other violation you know a non-criminal violation and also
1:08:33
because the target of a suspicious activity report is prohibited from finding out it would actually be very
1:08:39
hard for the person to go to court later and challenge it unless they were the subject potentially of a prosecution in
1:08:45
which case you're already starting behind the eightball okay so as we stand right now
1:08:51
the Fourth Amendment relative to your banking records which don't just say
1:08:56
what you spent money on it says where you were because by definition when you put that credit card into the gas pump
1:09:04
we know exactly where you were so there's nothing that stops government from finding out not only what you're
1:09:10
spending on but where you are and what you're doing is that correct sir that's absolutely correct um and the reason for
1:09:18
that is from the Court's perspective those records aren't yours they belong to the bank and therefore you have no
1:09:24
protectable privacy right in them but the court recently has been starting to change their thinking on that type of
1:09:29
thing well and we're we're hoping to Spur the court to think more uh through legislation uh summarizing though we're
1:09:37
talking mostly about bank records because those are the ones that we have a current example but isn't it true that
1:09:43
the FBI and other agencies want the same access to all of your phone records
1:09:48
which would include where you are Moment by moment and who you talk to is that Cor correct well yes that was an issue
1:09:56
in the carpenter case where the where law enforcement tried to pull location data from cell phone towers and the
1:10:03
court found that uh customers have a protectable Fourth Amendment right even though those records belong to the phone
1:10:09
company not to the customer so in closing for for everyone here if I want
1:10:15
to get those kinds of Records on the FBI in the case of your phone records for
1:10:21
all practical purposes with there are exent circumstance exceptions but for all practical purposes you need to get a
1:10:28
warrant you don't need it for bank records but isn't it true that those records very often provide the same
1:10:35
information and thus are equally invasive into not just your first amendment but your fourth amendment
1:10:42
reasonable expectation for privacy and the the keeping of your uh files and
1:10:48
personal effects I would argue they're potentially more sensitive and provide more accurate information than cell
1:10:54
phone towers well uh I for one would close by saying that I don't see a problem getting warrants I don't see a
1:11:02
problem getting judges and this committee has a significant role with fisa and other uh cases like that the
1:11:09
question is will we amend law so that no matter where the data is being grabbed
1:11:14
by the government it's being grabbed pursuant to a reasonable expectation that you have a reason to get it and a
1:11:21
judge who agrees Mr chairman thank you for holding this hearing and I yield back gentleman yields back the chair
1:11:26
recognizes gentleman from Massachusetts thank you Mr
1:11:35
chairman thank you Mr chairman I want to thank the witnesses for their willingness to testify before the
1:11:41
committee as evidenced by today's hearing the singular mission of this so-called subcommittee on
1:11:47
weaponization and the house Republican leadership appears to be the proliferation or ironically the
1:11:52
weaponization of false narratives for political purposes combined with the rudderless
1:11:59
efforts to develop evidence for the impeachment of President Biden these proceedings have become increasingly
1:12:05
bizarre at every turn you know once upon a time we were told that the key to all of this was the hunter Biden laptop that
1:12:12
was The Smoking Gun that would solve all of this until then it wasn't then it was
1:12:19
getting Hunter Biden to testify that was going to be the conclusive evidence
1:12:25
until at one point he had the courage to walk into a hearing sit in the front row and then all of a sudden Republicans
1:12:31
rejected his offer to testify publicly and instead voted to hold him in
1:12:36
contempt then it was going to be the testimony of the Republicans top legal expert Witnesses who were going to
1:12:43
appear before Congress and offer evidence against President Biden and lay out the legal Theory to justify articles
1:12:51
of impeachment but they show up all of them with great resumés but but with no
1:12:57
evidence and they testified under oath under oath that they could not find any
1:13:03
evidence that would support or suggest such charges and finally last month the Trump
1:13:11
appointed special counsel David Weiss announced that he had
1:13:16
indicted chairman Jim Jordan's star witness former FBI informant Alex Ander
1:13:23
smov for making false statements and fabricating evidence to
1:13:29
Federal investigators about President Biden and his family including the Shameless lie that President Biden
1:13:36
sought millions in bribes from Ukrainian Energy company barisma when he served as vice president now smof some of you may
1:13:43
not remember but smof is the guy that chairman Jordan described and I'll give
1:13:48
you a quote the Chairman's quote as providing quote the most corroborate ating evidence the Republicans have
1:13:55
close quote in support of impeachment so given that smov is being
1:14:01
charged by the Republican Trump appointed special counsel for lying and
1:14:07
fabricating evidence and the pathetic show that the Republicans have put on so far that
1:14:14
assessment is probably correct he's probably the best they've got now the chairman of this subcommittee is
1:14:20
determined to obscure the facts surrounding January 6th today's hearing appears to be based on the false
1:14:25
narrative that conservative Americans and even Bible per purchases are the targets of pervasive and baseless
1:14:32
financial surveillance by the federal government it also follows statements made by several house members
1:14:37
downplaying the attacks that officer F Fon has has described at the US capital
1:14:44
complex as quote acts of vandalism close quote and a normal tourist visit that
1:14:50
could not be further from the truth as reported by the bipartisan select committee on January 6th and its final
1:14:55
report on Nation endured an Insurrection that specifically sought to violently
1:15:01
block Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election the sheer scale of the mob violence that you saw
1:15:07
on the video earlier and the lawlessness that was exhibited that day tested the
1:15:12
very fabric of our democracy with riers savagely beating lawen for Enforcement
1:15:18
Officers like officer Fon amid repeated crowd chants such as
1:15:24
hang Mike Pence shoot him with his own gun the Republican vice president hang Mike Pence that's what
1:15:32
makes you an extremist that's what makes you a terrorist not not just your your
1:15:39
desire to purchase under the Second Amendment a a a weapon that you're legally entitled to
1:15:45
have it also warranted additional investigatory investigatory efforts by federal law enforcement authorities to
1:15:52
prevent more War violence leading up to the 2021 presidential inauguration officer fown as a former
1:16:00
metropolitan police officer could you please tell us how the promulgation of false narratives like this was just a
1:16:07
tourist visit or simple vandalism how that distorted description affects your
1:16:13
ability to do your do your
1:16:19
job thank you for the question well essentially um the distortions
1:16:25
mischaracterizations and lies about January 6th uh resulted in um or at
1:16:30
least partially played a role in me leaving my job as a metropolitan police
1:16:36
officer um they have inspired fellow Americans
1:16:43
to uh threaten me uh threaten members of my family simply because of uh the
1:16:49
statements that I've made about my experience uh both on January 6
1:16:55
2021 and uh in the aftermath
1:17:01
um so well thank you very much my time has expired Mr chairman have unanimous
1:17:08
request I would uh thank you for your service gentleman yields back unanimous consent request Mr chairman me St her
1:17:14
request Mr chairman I ask unanimous to consent to enter into the record a January 7th 2021 email from the FBI to
1:17:20
financial institutions requesting information about Edward farea because he quote claimed to be armed in
1:17:26
intending to travel to DC to unleash quote some violence I also ask unanimous
1:17:31
consent to enter into the record a press release from the eastern district of New York announcing Edward fia's sentencing
1:17:37
for making threats to kill elected officials like Senator rafhael warno entitled quote Queen's man sentenced to
1:17:43
33 months in prison for posting threats to kill a member of Congress and illegally possessing am ammunition
1:17:49
unquote without objection thank you gentleman from Florida is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman uh it
1:17:54
it's s just sitting up here listening to yall's testimony it's just absolutely insane the level of the deep State
1:18:03
acting to go after pro-life groups proun groups that you Mr Tesco talk the
1:18:11
Arkansas pro-life group that now they can't even bank at the bank that they were banking at because of their
1:18:19
political beliefs um the information that the chairman put up about about people purchasing religious texts and
1:18:25
Firearms um all without a warrant I mean you know you go to law school and they teach you constitutional law on the
1:18:32
fourth amendment all these things that have to happen in order for the government to get information about you or to search your information and all of
1:18:38
this is happening without even the person knowing that it's going on without a warrant without an ability to
1:18:44
even to defend themselves in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election the financial crimes
1:18:49
enforcement Network finsen at the US Department of Treasury told major Banks to be on the lookout for customers using
1:18:55
credit and debit cards for the purchase of legal firearms as a gun owner and a strong proponent of our Second Amendment
1:19:01
rights it's appalling that a federal agency would ask private companies to spy on their customers conducting
1:19:06
perfectly legal business transactions it's not like there's a suspicion of criminality going on these are just
1:19:12
typical purchases of firearms finson also passed along a report to several large Banks titled bankrolling bigotry
1:19:20
an overview of the online funding strategies of American hate groups included among those supposed hate
1:19:26
groups is the alliance defending Freedom which is represented before us today by Mr Tesco I found this characterization
1:19:33
curious because the ADF that I know is anything but a hate group ADF defends Americans god-given right to religious
1:19:39
liberty in courts around this country but it seems the Biden Administration views advocacy for religious liberty as
1:19:45
hate these days that says far more about the administration than it does about ADF President Obama once infamously
1:19:51
remarked that many conservative Americans cling to guns or religion and given finson actions it seems that
1:19:58
President Biden's Administration shares the same hostility for millions of Americans like me who proudly cling to
1:20:04
our first and second amendment rights Mr tadesco what's your reaction to your organization being identified as a hate
1:20:10
group in a report shared by a government agency it's unbelievable that that is
1:20:15
being used by the federal government to advise banks on domestic terrorist threats but you I think the bigger point
1:20:22
here is that the concept of hate is a tool of suppression and on top of that
1:20:30
that kind of language hate speech and and similar kinds of vague concepts are
1:20:35
permeated throughout the financial industry and are used to shut down events into debank people um JP Morgan
1:20:42
Chase has used it several times Arkansas family policy that he said was highrisk they shut down an event by defense of uh
1:20:49
defense of Liberty on behal Donald Trump Jr was speaking at it it they shut down that event on the basis of a hate policy
1:20:56
so we know these policies are being weaponized in the financial industry and again because of the bank secrecy act
1:21:02
and a lot of the shrouding of the way regulation happens in the banking context it's really hard to know why are
1:21:08
these things happening we just know it's on the rise and it's a real concern well and one of my colleagues was just saying
1:21:14
that this is just a narrative that we're creating a political narrative but you've gone through specifics I I if if
1:21:21
you want to high light specifically some of these instances that you're referring to of facts where pro-life groups or
1:21:29
organizations that are conservative have been debanked by these uh private entities sure the highest profile one is
1:21:36
is a former member of uh the Senate Samuel brownback's organization National Committee for Religious Freedom uh JP
1:21:43
Morgan Chase canceled that account in 2022 um they gave an escalating in very
1:21:49
different reasons um that were contradictory over the next year as scrutiny mounted none of the reasons
1:21:55
ever held any weight um interestingly enough they they uh referred to
1:22:00
anti-money laundering financing of terrorism a concept called politically exposed persons all of these are within
1:22:07
the banking regulations um and I think are used as tools ultimately to suppress
1:22:12
people because of their views um again the secrecy and the shrouding of the reasons for the decisions is a huge part
1:22:19
of the problem I think that's something Congress needs to address and is there circumstance es in which the the
1:22:24
consumers may never know that their information was privately disclosed from the bank to the FBI or a government
1:22:30
agency yeah I mean this is a huge part of the problem is our clients uh you know to a to a person anytime they go to
1:22:37
the bank once they get debanked it's always under some vague policy the only thing the bank will say is high risk or
1:22:43
business type or risk tolerance every time they go back and ask for an an answer a specific reason the bank just
1:22:50
St stonewalls them so can't get access to information I only have a couple seconds left so what is your recourse if
1:22:57
you do find out so let's say cuz I basically ticked a lot of those boxes that were referenced Firearms Bibles
1:23:03
religious texts so if you do find out that your information was divulged from the bank that you bank to a government
1:23:09
agency do you have any recourse whatsoever to go after the government or the bank it's difficult for consumers
1:23:15
who are in that position because they usually don't know it happens if it happens there are consumer complaints you can file with State Attorneys
1:23:21
General um probably other avenues that people people could pursue but I think that's part of the reason why Congress should act to U you cordon off some of
1:23:30
the um um the secrecy and confidentiality that's happening in the
1:23:35
banking industry and also affirmatively require Banks to stop using reputational risk and some of these other vague
1:23:41
categories to determine whether they're going to bank with someone thank you all for being here today Mr chairman I have
1:23:46
a unanimous consent request I thank the chair I ask the unanimous consent to enter into the record the FBI situation
1:23:53
report sent to financial institutions with respect to an explicit and clear
1:23:59
threat on January 16 2021 with respect to the inauguration I
1:24:04
thank the chair from California is recognize thank you um I think our Witnesses for being here and I want to
1:24:10
examine some of the actual requests that the FBI sent to financial institutions
1:24:16
in the wake o